Speaking about the “terrorist” rhetoric employed against tea partiers during the debt-deal debate, Sarah Palin said that President Obama “wouldn’t have a problem” with tea partiers if they were “real domestic terrorists.”

“If we were really domestic terrorists, shoot, President Obama would be wanting to pal around with us, wouldn’t he?” Palin told Fox News host Sean Hannity last night.

“I mean he didn’t have a problem with paling around with Bill Ayers back in the day when he kicked off his political career in Bill Ayers’s apartment, and then shaking hands with [Hugo] Chavez and saying he doesn’t need any preconditions with meeting dictators or wanting to read U.S. Miranda rights to alleged suspected foreign terrorists,” Palin added.

She criticized Mitt Romney for waiting to announce his position on the debt deal until Monday morning.

“I do not have respect for what he has done through this debt-ceiling debate. He did this: He waited until it was a done deal that we would increase the debt ceiling, and . . . then he came out and made a statement that he didn’t like the deal after all,” Palin said, holding up her finger in the air to indicate that Romney had assessed the political climate before making his decision.

She praised Bachmann for speaking out on the debt deal. “She cast her vote according to her principles. She stood true,” Palin said.

Asked about her own 2012 plans, Palin responded that she was “getting closer to making the decision” for legal and practical reasons, but remained undecided.